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Mr. Donovan is Co-Chair of Debevoise’s International Disputes Group and its Public International Law Group and serves as counsel in international disputes before international courts, international arbitration tribunals, and courts in the United States. Based on surveys of others in the field, Mr. Donovan is widely regarded as one of the leading international arbitration practitioners, international lawyers, and international advocates in the world. He has been described in Chambers Global and similar publications as “a dominant figure in the international arbitration scene,” as “a recognized leader in commercial, investment, and international law cases,” as “one of the world’s leading practitioners in both investment treaty and commercial arbitration,” as “obviously a brilliant public international law specialist,” as attracting “widespread praise for his work as counsel and as arbitrator,” as “one of the best advocates that you will ever see,” as a “visionary,” an “absolute star,” an “arbitration superstar,” a “tremendous intellect,” a “truly amazing lawyer,” a “towering figure,” a “brilliant” and “superb” oral advocate, and as “combative,” “extraordinarily talented,” and “absolutely excellent, truly top of the line.” In 2012, on presenting him its Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession Award, Chambers USA reported that a client summed him up as “a model of what a top international arbitration lawyer ought to be: brilliant, hands on, accessible, client-friendly and extremely hard working.” Chambers USA reported that he was “spectacular,” stating: “His witness examinations are flawless and precise, his arguments are intellectual, practical and persuasive, and his client service is the model of what a lawyer ought to be.” Chambers Global 2017 quotes one interviewee as stating: “I wouldn’t think about going to anyone else with a complex arbitration matter.” Mr. Donovan is also recommended as a “renowned” international arbitration practitioner by Legal 500 US (2017) and listed in the guide’s Hall of Fame.

Mr. Donovan regularly sits as arbitrator in international cases, including under the auspices of ICSID, the ICC, and the ICDR, as president, chair, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator.

Mr. Donovan serves as President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the leading global organization of international arbitrators and arbitration practitioners, and he recently completed a term as President of the American Society of International Law (ASIL). He serves as a Member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law; a Member of the Advisory Committees of the American Law Institute for the Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States and for the Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial Arbitration; and a Member of the Board of Human Rights First and Chair of its Litigation Committee. He served from 2000-2005 as Chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA). He teaches International Arbitration and International Investment Law and Arbitration at the New York University School of Law, and he regularly speaks and writes on international law, international arbitration, and international litigation topics.

Mr. Donovan has argued international law, arbitration law, commercial law, and other issues before the US Supreme Court, the US Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits, and other federal and state courts throughout the United States; the International Court of Justice and other international courts and tribunals; and arbitration tribunals sitting around the world, constituted under the auspices of the world’s leading arbitration institutions, in a wide range of economic sectors, in disputes arising under both contracts and treaties. His practice includes the representation of states, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and multinational companies.

Mr. Donovan’s representations include:

Tethyan Copper Company (jointly owned by Barrick Gold and Antofagasta Minerals) in parallel arbitrations arising from a copper-gold project against the Government of Pakistan in ICSID under a bilateral investment treaty and the Government of Balochistan in the ICC under a contract.

Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation (jointly owned by Barrick Gold and Goldcorp) in a dispute with the Government of the Dominican Republic regarding the Pueblo Viejo mine, the largest foreign investment in the Dominican Republic, leading to a favorable settlement.

the Swiss manufacturer Holcim Ltd. in an ICSID proceeding against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under a bilateral investment treaty for the expropriation of its Venezuelan subsidiary, in which Holcim recovered some US$650 million.

Mitsui in a dispute with Anglo American in relation to Mitsui’s financing of the exercise of an option by Codelco to purchase part of the Chilean copper miner Anglo American Sur.

a Japanese company in an ICC arbitration arising from a shareholders’ agreement governing its holdings in a Brazilian mining company.

the Brazilian airline VRG before the Second Circuit in an appeal from an order denying enforcement of a Brazilian arbitration award and raising issues under the New York Convention and US arbitration law.

the lead claimant in Reineccius v. Bank for International Settlements, in which a five-member tribunal constituted under the 1930 Hague Agreement awarded private shareholders some US$500 million after holding that the Bank had inadequately compensated those shareholders for their compulsorily withdrawn shares.

the United Nations in US federal court in asserting its rights under the UN-US Headquarters Agreement in Ungar v. PLO and under the Convention on Privileges and Immunities in Brzak v. United Nations.

the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as amicus curiae in Boumediene, in which the US Supreme Court addressed the rights of the Guantánamo detainees to judicial review of their detention.

the Finnish manufacturer Oy Metsä-Botnia AB in connection with the Case Concerning Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Arg. v. Uru.) in the International Court of Justice, which concerned Botnia’s project in Uruguay.

the European Commission as amicus curiae in Sosa, in which the EC urged the US Supreme Court to take a rigorous international law approach to the Alien Tort Statute.

a group of negotiators of and experts on the Chemical Weapons Convention as amici curiae in Bond v. United States, in which the US Supreme Court considered a constitutional challenge to the federal statute implementing the Convention.

the Government of Ghana in proceedings in the US District Court for the District of Columbia arising under the New York Convention and in related arbitrations.

the Governments of Mexico (Avena), the Federal Republic of Germany (LaGrand), and Paraguay (Case Concerning Vienna Convention on Consular Relations) in proceedings against the United States in the International Court of Justice arising under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Mr. Donovan joined Debevoise after serving as law clerk to Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the US Supreme Court and as legal assistant to Judge Howard M. Holtzmann of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. He received his BA in 1977 from the University of Virginia and his JD in 1981 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served on the Stanford Law Review.